Over the past four years or so, Scottie Scheffler’s enduring, efficient majesty has been so machine-like, you half expected him to unclip his face at a press conference to reveal an elaborate array of circuit boards, flashing LEDs and tangled wires.
But wait. The world No 1 is human after all. He finally missed a bloomin’ cut.
As that big fiery orb up in the sky shone down on the Renaissance again, Scheffler couldn’t make hay on day two of the Genesis Scottish Open and a two-over 72 for a level-par aggregate saw him fail to make the weekend.
As rare events go, it was just about up there with a glimpse of Halley’s Comet.
Scheffler had made 78 consecutive cuts dating back to the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship. He hadn’t finished outside of the top-25 in any event since 2024.
The 30-year-old still had a heck of a long way to go to catch Tiger Woods, who made 142 cuts in a row between 1998 and 2005 during his tyrannical rule over the men’s professional game.
Scheffler will just have to thump the Ctrl Alt Del buttons, reboot his system and start again. Oh sorry, we said he was human, didn’t we?
Every cloud, of course, has a silver lining. His early exit from the Scottish showpiece meant he could trundle down the road to Southport and get some additional preparation in ahead of his defence of The Open Championship title at Royal Birkdale.
By the time you read this, he’s possibly having a reflective lean on the railings of the Marine Way Bridge, gazing out at the boats on the lake and working out a battleplan for the week ahead.
His reflections, meanwhile, on what went wrong at the Scottish Open were pretty simple.
“I got off to a poor start and after that, I didn't really hit it close enough to give myself a bunch of looks,” said the four-time major champion.
“That's how you shoot over par.”
Having opened with a 68 on Thursday, Scheffler looked in decent shape to mount a second-round offensive on the leaders, but he stumbled and spluttered out of the blocks – he started on the 10th - with two bogeys on his first three holes. It was a bit of a struggle from there.
Scheffler couldn’t get much going at all and the final hole summed up his day.
Knowing he likely needed to chip-in to have a chance of making the cut, Scheffler ended up making a crippling bogey instead.
The bags were being packed, zipped up and heading for Southport. If he got a shift on, he could’ve made the bingo night in the Prince of Wales hotel.
All in all, it was a frustrating day on the links for Scheffler. This type of golf can be like that.
“Like the eighth hole, I hit the fairway and I'm in a divot,” added Scheffler as he reeled off a number of sighing, muttering situations he found himself in.
“Then the ninth, felt I pretty solid and it just dies. A good shot into 12 and it’s 25 feet. Good shot into 13, good shot into 14 but it's still 20, 25 feet.
“Same thing on 15 and 16. I didn't really feel like I played that bad. But this golf course can be just tough at times.”
It’s onwards to The Open. The Scottish Open will get put behind him. There’s no point dwelling in this game. Haste ye back to East Lothian? We’ll see.
“This is a golf course I feel like I can play well on and I just haven't for some reason,” said Scheffler of his topsy turvy relationship with the Renaissance. “I think this is my second missed cut here.
“It could be one of those things where you just get over jetlag, get used to a new style of golf. And maybe I just haven’t adjusted as quickly or this golf course just doesn’t suit my eye much.
"It's funny. Last year, I got really frustrated on this golf course playing some good golf and just not really being able to get anything going as well. Then I went and played well at The Open Championship.
"So, it's suiting me well over the years. I haven't played well here but I've played pretty well at The Open. I'll reflect on that at the end of the year and assess what my plans are going into next season."
There’s a more pressing issue to deal with first. Defending the Claret Jug.
